The Hague, Holland? Any Raw Paleo Diet and Lifestyle Tips?

[goodsamaritan]

My wife is exploring the possibility of getting an Expatriate posting in The Hague, Holland in Royal Dutch Shell.

Any tips you have about living in the Hague?
Raw Paleo Diet Foods Available?
Organic meats, fish, vegetables and fruits?

Anyone here lives in the Hague?
 

[whatever]

I live very near to den haag, food quality in the Netherlands is very bad. It's near impossible to get good quality meat. The only meat you can get in large quantities is pork belly and minced meat, beef is very low in fat. Chicken is uneatable, fish is fine most of the time (don't buy it in super markets). Every single piece of food is f**ked some way or the other. Fruit is never ripe, vegetables are produced on hydro-culture.

[HIT_it_RAW]

I live very near to den haag, food quality in the Netherlands is very bad. It's near impossible to get good quality meat. The only meat you can get in large quantities is pork belly and minced meat, beef is very low in fat. Chicken is uneatable, fish is fine most of the time (don't buy it in super markets). Every single piece of food is f**ked some way or the other. Fruit is never ripe, vegetables are produced on hydro-culture.

i also live int the netherlands and it is very well possible to get high quality food its just harder to find. i order free roam beef and horse meat online. these animals roam free in clean protected areas.

i get grass fed raw milk butter and cheese straight from the farm. all very good. fruit is somewhat harder but there are many organic fruit growers you can buy straight from and know what you get.

i thought it would be impossible to get any of it at first but if you put some effort in it it is very well possible.

[goodsamaritan]

Can you post the website where you order high quality food?

Can you post the address of the farm?

My wife is seriously considering the expat post, but our family's health comes first.

How about the sea food? Which wet markets do I go to buy fresh sea food?

[cherimoya_kid]

Can you post the website where you order high quality food?

Can you post the address of the farm?

My wife is seriously considering the expat post, but our family's health comes first.

How about the sea food? Which wet markets do I go to buy fresh sea food?

Would you and the children be going too?

You do realize servants are extremely expensive in Europe, right?  Be ready for that.

Also, it's rainy, cold, and depressing in the Netherlands in the winter.   

[goodsamaritan]

Would you and the children be going too?

You do realize servants are extremely expensive in Europe, right?  Be ready for that.

Also, it's rainy, cold, and depressing in the Netherlands in the winter.   

The kids are big enough.  We could get lucky and she may get pregnant again.

Re servants, I told her we should get a 2nd wife who is a house wife. 

I can be full time dad while doing internet based business stuff.

And if I'm full time dad, they have no choice but to be on raw paleo diet, or they can heat up some meat slices with zero condiments.

Being an expat for my wife is a good career move for her plus she gets big time bucks she says compared to what we earn here.  The experience may do us good.

"Rainy, cold, and depressing in the Netherlands in the winter."

Something to think about, I've never experienced winter.

--------

Found this wet market blog post:

http://absolutelythehague.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/the-hague-market-the-biggest-market-in-europe/

And this

http://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/dutch-markets/the-hague/

[TylerDurden]

She may get "big bucks", but the catch is that living expenses will be much, much higher. Quite frankly, your setup in the Phillipines is way better, with all those extra servants.

[goodsamaritan]

She may get "big bucks", but the catch is that living expenses will be much, much higher. Quite frankly, your setup in the Phillipines is way better, with all those extra servants.

We can afford servants but we can't afford to build a new house and lot in the city yet.  I'm looking for my big internet break to happen.  Maybe for me it will be this year.

[HIT_it_RAW]

These are were I usually order my meat from.
http://www.freenature.nl
http://www.wildrundvlees.nl

The farm is at Kamerik which is pretty far from Den Haag (the haque) I'm sure you would be able to find a similiar farm near den Haag.

This winter was first wet and coldish(around 0) and cold (up to -18) and snowy later. Do a little research on the weather here as it can be pretty harsh on you if you come from the tropics. To me our seasons are the most wonderful thing. I enjoy summer fall winter and spring equally.

In general life is expensive here but that is compensated for by good paying jobs. But as some noted you would have to be very wealthy indeed to be able to have workers and you will never ever find a servant. Plural wifes are not allowed here.

I've no experience with wet markets as I live inland. I do know that you can get some decent seafood but don't expect it to be as good or as plentiful as you have now. Also sea food is very expensive here. Mussels are cheap but things like oysters are very expensive.

Acceptable houses for a family in the NL start at 200.000euros.

Would be awesome to have you here GS!

[TylerDurden]

Hmm, my experience has always been that near the coast the seafood is extremely cheap(and far more likely to be raw). Trying to buy raw seafood in landlocked countries like Austria is a waste of time as it's all prefrozen, mostly consisting of farmed fish, and costs the earth.

[HIT_it_RAW]

Hmm, my experience has always been that near the coast the seafood is extremely cheap(and far more likely to be raw). Trying to buy raw seafood in landlocked countries like Austria is a waste of time as it's all prefrozen, mostly consisting of farmed fish, and costs the earth.

well as i said i don't live near the coast and I don't have much experience buying seafood straight from the source. So maybe you can buy seafood cheap here. I tend to prefer land animals anyway.

[HIT_it_RAW]

So what's the verdict GS?

If you require any aditional information on the Netherlands you can always ask.

[goodsamaritan]

No verdict yet.
Her first offer was for Qatar... which I flatly said "no way."

Sending feelers to the children and to each other.
My wife will still have to apply within her company intranet and see if the package is worth it, or if she will be the one chosen for the position.
Many other myriad of factors to consider.
Thank you for all your inputs.

[TylerDurden]

I suppose you rejected Qatar because of some past reports you mentioned previously re poor treatment of Filipinos in the Middle-East. That said, my parents used to work there and they both stated that the salary was twice as much as they got in Europe. The catch for them was that it was an appalling climate and  there was no alcohol easily available. It wouldn't surprise me if rawpalaeo foods from land mammals were scarce, but I presume that raw wildcaught seafood is plentiful.

[goodsamaritan]

I suppose you rejected Qatar because of some past reports you mentioned previously re poor treatment of Filipinos in the Middle-East. That said, my parents used to work there and they both stated that the salary was twice as much as they got in Europe. The catch for them was that it was an appalling climate and  there was no alcohol easily available. It wouldn't surprise me if rawpalaeo foods from land mammals were scarce, but I presume that raw wildcaught seafood is plentiful.

In Qatar, they treat caucasians with respect.  Any other race is maltreated.  My employee used to work there.